Maximum Ride: Featherless
by savinglifelessness
Summary: Follows the same storyline as the book, OC, some Faxness and some MaxOC. Better summary inside
1. Chapter 1

Maximum Ride: Featherless 

Summary: So my story takes place right before Max and Co. break into the Institute. I added my own character and it takes place from his POV.

Note: This is not AU, the only difference in the story line is that Max and the flock's makeover takes place after they break into the Institute. Also I changed the setting of the Institute a little, okay a lot.

_Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride of any characters. My character is mine!_

Chapter 1

With a buzz, my cage door swung open and the lights flickered on. I squinted in the bright light as my eyes tried to adjust.

A lab tech entered, and kicked the back of my cage, hard.

Wait, did I say cage? I meant portable dog pen.

Anyways, I went sprawling, managing to bang my knee on the lip of the opening.

"Get up," the tech ordered, I started to get up and another person I hadn't noticed planted a heavy combat boot in my rib cage.

"Too slow maggot," a sinister voice whispered in my ear. I rolled to dodge the next kick and leapt up, my fists at the ready. The Eraser only laughed and I bared my fangs at him.

With a push, the lab tech led me out the door, where two more Erasers wielding AK's flanked me.

"Two this time? " I asked the tech, one of the Erasers only growled and pushed me along with the muzzle of the rifle.

"Shut up and keep going 223169," the tech said, only confident enough to call me by my serial number because of the pair of Kalashnikov's.

I grinned, showing him my fangs, at which the tech shuddered. With another push I continued walking.

Just as we neared the exit to get to the tram that would take us to the middle of nowhere, a red light flashed and alarms started sounding.

"Take him back," the tech ordered, and then rushed off.

I heard the click of two safeties coming off and I glanced back, finding two man-dogs wielding Russian weapons glaring at me.

Yeah, I said man-dogs. You think I called them Erasers for fun? An Eraser is a human-lupine hybrid. Meaning it's basically a guy with dog DNA in him. SO that means they can become a walking bi-pedal dog at any point and time.

As we walked back they kept their weapons trained on me, but to their surprise I didn't struggle or try to escape. I knew they had live ammunition in those rifles, and I didn't feel like getting shot in the wing today.

Anyways, so they tossed me back in the pen, and turned out the lights. As the door shut I heard the loud click of the dead bolt being slammed home.

Now that I have a few minutes, let me tell you about myself.

My name's Kael, I can't say my last name because I honestly don't know it. I've been in this place the tech's call the 'Institute,' but I've got a better name. Some of the other hybrids like me in this place call me Night Crawler, but that just seems to X-manish. Most people would think I'd pick the nickname 'Fang,' but one decided to stick on me after I cut an arm off a lab tech and laughed as I beat him and someone else with it.

Lucifer. Call me Lucy and I'm going to cut your tongue out.

I'm a human-lamia hybrid. For those of you who don't speak Latin, that's Vampire in English. Yes, I was infused with South African Vampire Bat DNA, effectively making me a vampire. Without the side effects.

Anyways, so I was sitting there, wondering what the hell was going on, and feeling almost scared since I've never experienced this before, when the door exploded.

"Nice Ig," I heard a female voice say.

With that I could hear the other hybrids around me waking up, and the dog three pens over barking and talking at the same time.

After a minute, the smoke started to clear and more light filtered in. I shielded my sensitive eyes and peered through the glare.

What I saw was a bunch of kids, I mean I'm only 15, about to turn sixteen in four months, and these kids are standing there. Pretty soon they rushed in and started opening the pens.

I sat there, trying to be and look stoic as they opened the other pens.

_What about me?_

I began to feel almost panicky. An emotion I quickly suppressed. I never wanted to give the techs or Eraser's the satisfaction of knowing I was scared or hurt.

I must have looked worried though, because the eldest looking girl, maybe about 14 or 15, knelt down and whispered,

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of here."

I cracked a small smile and nodded.

Normally, I would've just broken the stupid thing, but since I did that three months ago for the eighth time, they upgraded me to a solid steel and titanium, not that woven fiberglass they melt together.

So finally she got the thing open. I dove out almost too fast, excited to finally get out of that thing on my own. I jumped up and stretched my wings. Only retracting them as fast as I could when she, and the others in there gasped.

I looked over to see a very shocked look on her face. Obviously she's never seen a hybrid. Shaking her head, she ran to another pen while I calmly kicked it open.

She glanced a thanks, and was about to move on when another kid who was at the door turned and called,

"Company."

"How close?" She asked

"About 500 meters down the hall we came down, armed."

"Crap," she muttered, quickly glancing around for a place to get out of here.

"There's a way," I told her, "It'll be hard though because you can't fly."

At that, the six of them grinned, I raised an eyebrow and their wings shot out.

Feathered wings.

"Ah, so you learn something new every day don't ya?"

She nodded, "Can you take us out of here?"

Sure I can, I know this place by heart.

Without another word, I jumped through the door, and told the six to go in front of me, there was something I wanted to take care of. Pushing them down the hallway, I ran towards the Erasers, who finally noticed me and opened fire.

Amazing isn't it? When you watch an action movie, the guys have the worst aim in the world, as if they have never fired a weapon in their life.

I guess these idiots hadn't either.

With a jump, I managed to get an Eraser square in the chest, knocking him down and backward. I picked up his AK and jumped back, leveling the weapon at another Eraser.

I forgot though, I've never fired a weapon before either.

Shaking my head, I spun around and dove down the hallway, opening my wings and soaring. When I reached the corner I dropped, rolled, and came up facing the Erasers.

"See ya," I called down, and pulled the trigger. I had never fired a weapon, but I was ready to take some vengeance out on these guys. One went down.

A series of click's told me that I had run out of ammo, so I dropped the weapon and ran down the other hall as fast as I could where the others were waiting for me.

"Quick, through the door," I said, pointing to the one I was about to go through before the alarm went off. They burst through and I got them along the wall walking down the line. While yes, a tram did go through here, they wouldn't be operating it because of the emergency. Besides, the tram comes through once every six hours.

"This tunnel has a small service passage that leads to the sewer, and the exit." I said, forced to jog down because of the low ceiling. Neither could they so they were right behind me on the ground.

After about a half an hour, I reached the service passage. Basically an air vent that was really tall. Quickly entering, I looked back to find them standing there looking very nervous.

"Come on!" I urged, almost anxious to get out of here.

"Angel?" The one who opened my pen asked.

I was about to say something when the smallest girl spoke up.

"He's telling the truth Max, he doesn't want to hurt us."

The one called Max –The girl who opened my cage- nodded, and followed me into the passage. Shuffling along as fast as I could, one could tell I was eager to be free. Once I got to the end, I pried some of the moss away, to find the sewer empty of human or Eraser presence.

"Clear," I whispered, pushing through.

Everyone followed, and found we were right next to the entrance to the Institute.

Then the door opened.

Out stepped three Erasers, and a tech.

"Jeb," Max spat.

"Max," he said with a warm smile, and then he noticed me. "Kael, I see you've made it out again."

I couldn't help but grin, "Yeah, your security sucks. Maybe it's time to lose the mutts."

At this the erasers growled, I could only grin wider, hiding the slight fear I felt. I knew I couldn't take on three Erasers at once.

"Enough," one said, taking a step forward. Jeb held out an arm.

"No Ari, not yet."

Ari growled and shook his head, then pushed Jeb's arm out of the way and dove at Max, who crouched and rammed an elbow in his gut. Ari coughed and planted his fist onto Max's head, dazing her. She leaned back, feigning being unbalanced. Ari stepped forward and she punched him in the throat. Ari gagged, and Max dove on top of him, slamming into the wall.

Something snapped, a sickening sort of crack, which we all heard. Ari hit the ground with a thud, and didn't move afterwards. The only noise we heard was him whisper,

"You hurt me, I never would have hurt you. _Not like this._"

Then his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body went limp.

I took a step back, surprised. Max sat there on his chest, staring at him. Before Jeb or the other Erasers could do anything, she jumped up and yelled, "RUN!"

Without a second thought, everyone jumped up and took off down the sewer tunnels.

As I banked around the corner, I heard Jeb's voice echoing down the hallway.

"_You killed your own brother!"_

I flew with them, surprisingly feeling happy.

I was finally free forever! I wanted to scream. I'm normally a quiet person, but I felt so excited and giddy.

However, I could feel everyone else's tension, I could feel their fear.

Then a thought hit me.

_Would they even take me with them?_

My giddiness melted away as the realization set in. I might be alone again. On my own.

Shit.

Soon they slowed down, and I saw a grate that was open partially, a rock stuck between it and the ground.

They stopped and landed on the ledge, all staring at me as I settled down next to them.

"Thank you," Max said, "Kael was it?"

"That's my real name. Some of the tech's called me Lucifer, but it's up to you."

Max nodded, and then introduced me to everyone.

The only one who didn't seem overly pleased with me was Fang. Everyone else seemed to at least find me tolerable.

"Kael," Max said, after we had climbed out and were sitting in the alley.

"Yes?" I said, looking up.

"Would you like to come with us?"

Max's POV

Okay, so I admit that that wasn't the best way to put it, but I'm not known for being subtle.

I felt Fang start slightly when I asked the question, he probably had wanted a say in this and was surprised when I didn't consult the flock. I glanced up at him apologetically.

Kael, or Lucifer _(I prefer Kael personally)_ stood there, shocked. His dark hair hung in front of his eyes, hiding them from me. His mouth hung open slightly, showing the tips of his long canines.

After a minute or two of silence, he nodded.

I could feel Fang tense slightly, and then relax. I glanced at him, but he still had that expressionless look he always wears.

I don't know why I asked Kael to come with us, I guess it just seemed right. Maybe the Voice had something to do with it, maybe not. I could tell Fang had a few things to say, and I'm sure I'd hear them later.

Kael's POV

I was honestly and pleasantly surprised.

I managed to get a nod out, and saw a small smile form at the corners of Max's mouth. The others just looked confused.

Since I had nothing to hide my wings, we took off from the alley and landed on the roof.

"We need to get you better clothes man," Gasman remarked, "Shorts and a tank top? With no shoes?"

I shrugged, "There was never a need really, I was always inside, when I wasn't I was flying."

They nodded and Max turned to Iggy and Fang. "Fang, take Kael and Iggy to that half constructed roof we stayed at, we're gonna go shopping.

I glanced over at Fang, who nodded to her and got up.

"C'mon," he said, then took off.

I jumped up with Iggy and followed, flapping hard to catch up with him.

Once I neared him, I glanced at him and he glanced back. I gave him a small nod, and he jerked his head in a likewise fashion.

We landed on the roof and I sat near the edge, watching New York during rush hour. I didn't get out into society very much, considering I've been in a cage, so it fascinated me. A few hours later, Max, Gasman, Nudge, and Angel arrived, laden with a couple bags.

"Fang! Look what Max got me!" Angel pulled out a small white bone, I looked over at it with a worried and curious look in my eyes, until a dog jumped out of the bag and snatched it away from Angel.

Max reached in another bag and tossed me a used pair of tennis shoes, a windbreaker like the ones they had, and jeans and a t-shirt. I pulled the jeans on and the shoes, but left the t-shirt with the windbreaker for tomorrow. It was warm out anyways.

"Thanks Max," I said, nobody had ever actually gotten me something, ever. "Thanks a lot, I mean it."

She smiled and nodded at me and then I finally got a good look at the dog. The very same dog that was barking and talking during the commotion this morning.

"Guys, this is Total," Angel said, hugging the dog, "Can he stay Max?"

Max turned to Fang, "Fang?"

Angel turned to Fang with pleading eyes. I almost smiled, but I didn't.

"Alright, if one thing happens though, we lose the dog okay?"

Angel nodded and smiled.

After that, we all just relaxed and talked a bit, I got questioned endlessly by Nudge, about who I was, what I was, etc.

Oh, I suppose I never really let you know how I looked did I?

I stand at around 6'5", my hair rarely gets cut so it hangs down into my eyes, though usually if I can I tie it back into a ponytail. My eyes are a dark colored hazel and obviously… well I've got fangs. My wings are just like every other man's bat-wings, with a span of like… 15 feet.

Anyways, so after that the sun started going down, so we curled up to go to sleep.

Max's POV

I was curled up, ignoring all the emotions and saving them for tomorrow when Fang shook me gently.

I sat up immediately, my eyes doing a quick scan of the area for danger.

"Can we talk?" Fang asked.

I nodded, I'd known it was coming and had been dreading it but I knew it was coming.

"You wanted to know why I didn't take this up with you guys."

Fang nodded.

"It seemed right. Like something was telling me that I should."

"The Voice?"

I shook my head, "Not entirely, he/she/it may have influenced me, but didn't downright tell me to."

Fang nodded, but I could tell he wasn't happy.

"You don't like him," I stated bluntly.

He shrugged, "I don't know him, I don't trust him, and I don't understand why he chose to help us."

"Maybe…" I tried to search for the words that would make sense, "I can't give you a reason. But even Angel said he didn't want to hurt us, he's like us Fang."

Fang shook his head, "He's not, he didn't grow up with us and he didn't escape the School like us. He doesn't know us Max."

I bit my lip. "Just give it time okay Fang? For me."

Fang sighed, then looked at me and nodded.

I smiled at him, then lay down and fell asleep.

---

Kael's POV

I woke up at first light, when living in a place where the first bit of light wakes you up, the sun works pretty well.

I sat up, wondering where I was until everything that had transpired yesterday hit me. I looked around to see that everyone else was still asleep. I stretched and cracked my neck, hearing a satisfying pop. Standing up, I glanced over the edge and watched the early morning New Yorkers heading to work.

"Thermals won't be out yet," I said quietly to myself. A thermal is a warm pocket of air that rises off the ground after being heated by the sun. The best places are above large super mall parking lots since the Asphalt just radiates the heat. Thermals are amazing because as the warm air rises, you don't have to flap, or even move. It just carries you up like a feather in a breeze.

How do I know this?

I told you I've escaped a few times.

"What'd you say?" A quiet voice from next to me said. I jumped slightly, not having heard anyone get up and I turned to see Max standing next to me.

"Oh… I just said the thermals wont be out yet." When she gave me a quizzical look I launched into my explanation and she nodded.

"Next time we're out in the summer I'll try that."

I smiled and nodded, and turned back to the city below.

"Want to go for a flight?"

My eyes widened slightly, and I nodded.

With a grin, Max jumped off the edge and snapped her tan wings apart, flapping a little to gain altitude, I followed suit, though not as graceful. I blushed furiously underneath my hair as I awkwardly gained altitude and rose upwards to meet Max, who had a faint smile at my clumsiness.

Damn you Institute bastards who never let me fly very often.

Max glided over the still quiet city, and I couldn't help but watch her with appreciation as she smoothly cut through the air.

"Not allowed to fly very often?" She asked, a playful grin on her face.

"Not really," I said quietly, inwardly embarrassed.

You see, one of the problems with having leather instead of feathers is that you can't use them to slightly alter your course. Unfortunately Max could fly circles around me.

At that point I seriously just wanted to rip my wings out, because that would have completely taken my embarrassment at being a brick with wings away.

So eventually Max stopped showing off, even though I enjoyed watching her fly in graceful arcs while I tried to mimic her. Then we just flew around New York, it had been a few hours since we left, and we were sure that everyone else, the 'Flock' as Max called them, was up.

Then she popped the question.

"Kael, why did you decide to help us?"

I blinked with surprise, I didn't expect this.

"I dunno Max, I think at first I was just helping myself, you guys seemed like the best way I could have gotten myself out of there. Then I guess it got to the point where I was helping you guys get out of there as well."

She stared at me for a long second, then nodded, giving me a look that told me she believed me.

"We should head back, if the Flock wasn't worried before, they're probably getting there."

I nodded, and we wheeled around, heading back to the center of New York.

We had a race, and I grinned as I pulled far ahead of her.

She might be able to glide gracefully, but I had more power behind my strokes, giving me more speed.

Of course, returning back to the rooftop with Max far behind didn't give a happy reception.

As soon as I landed Fang walked up and asked me, "Where's Max?"

I panted slightly and pointed behind me. I saw the concern in his face and everyone else's melt away.

_Had they really thought I had killed Max?_

Of course they had, I was the newcomer, I was the outsider who looked positively evil, bat wings, fangs, long black hair that hung in my face.

Great, going to have to fix that.

Max landed and smiled at everyone, "Mornin!"

Fang gave her an emotionless stare, everyone else glanced between her and I.

"Come over here," Fang said quietly, motioning to his left. As they walked over, I could see Max's happy expression turn into one of concern. After their little conversation, Max walked over and smiled at everyone else.

"So, who wants to see what going through the Institute may have brought us? Other than a pet dog and a new companion." She glanced at me, a concerned, but somewhat happy look on her face.

She reached over to where she had been sleeping and pulled out a large envelope.

"Guys, this might be what we've always been looking for, what we've always wanted." Max said quietly.

"What are you waiting on?" asked Iggy. "The envelope, _please. _Open it already. Then somebody tell me what it says."

Everybody gathered around, anxiety etched on their faces. I kind of sat apart, not entirely knowing what was going on.

Until the Gasman exclaimed, "Here I am!"

Max peered over his shoulder, softly tugging the papers out of his hands.

"An address!" She exclaimed, which Fang repeated a minute later after skimming his own paper.

I blinked, I had given up on finding my parents a long time ago, probably after my second escape attempt.

Of course I had thought about them, wondered, but now parents just seemed like a fantasy that would never come true.

"Wait, look at the addresses," Nudge said, "Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland. That's all kind of close together isn't it? Plus, DC is where the government is, right?"

Max nodded.

"Wow, we could… we could actually tell them everything! Blow all of this wide open!" Iggy exclaimed, his face brightening with excitement.

I almost smiled, of course I couldn't imagine how he was feeling, seeing as I had never had the opportunity, and a long time ago I felt the want.

Of course it was then that Max had to ask the question.

"What about your parents Kael?"

I blinked, then shrugged. "I don't know, I don't think about them much anymore. I stopped wondering about them a long time ago, I used to wonder about them, but I've lived my entire life in the Institute, minus the times I've escaped, and I've never found them. I guess I've given up really."

They all kind of gave me a weird look. I guess Nudge and Angel gave me sad looks, Fang and the Gasman kind of just nodded as if they knew what I was saying, Iggy couldn't see so he couldn't exactly 'look' at me. Max just gave a slight nod.

"So who votes for going to Washington DC?" Max asked. A multitude of hands shot in the air, including mine.

Max smiled and nodded. "Alright, we'll get going tomorrow, today lets go out and get supplies."

Nudge cheered, and I smiled a little.

_Just another day in society._

After we had dug out some bagels for all of us to chow down on.

Some bagels meaning three bags by the way.

We left, we soared up above the rooftops until we came to central park, quickly finding a safe place to land and pull our windbreakers back on.

We went walking, trying to be as normal as possible down to a nearby deli.

I swear, I must have looked weird, a windbreaker, but shorts.

Not that I didn't look weird anyway, especially when I smiled to the clerk after I ordered my 10 or so odd sandwiches and smiled, making the mistake of showing her my fangs.

I swear to god half the time I must look like the devil himself.

After we ate, and then ordered more stuff to take with us along the way, we were walking down again, hoping to run into one out of the millions that are in New York.

Then some guy with a mowhawk jumped out at us, screaming, "You guys are perfect!"

---

Hooray! First chapter is done!

God was it long!

Oh, btw, the whole thing up in italics where it said _(I prefer Kael personally)_ that was Max's thinking, not a note from me.


	2. Chapter 2

Me: Alright, chapter two!

Fang: Hm

Sasuke: Hn

Me: Oh god… they're… holy god in heaven they're the same!

Max: He doesn't own us or our story, but he owns this one!

Warning: Extremely long chapter ahead!

**Chapter 2**

My brain sat there for a moment, trying to contemplate what this guy was trying to say. I felt Fang and Max tense up, but I was still slightly confused.

_Perfect? For what?_

I was about to ask Max when she blurted the question out to the guy in front of us.

The guy smiled and shook his head towards the shop he was in front of.

Name of the place? U'do.

We're having a special," he said, "Haircuts and clothes for free, but you have to let the stylist do whatever her or she wants. We can't give you tattoos without a note from your parents though."

I grinned, I had always wanted a tattoo, other than the number on my lower neck.

Max thought about it for a moment, then seemed to like the idea, especially after a pair of crazy looking girls walked out.

"Sure, why not?"

With a grin, we walked in and I sat down at one of the chairs and relaxed.

The stylist stood there with a smile on her face, her hair was spiked up randomly and colored green, she had used a ton of eye shadow to draw little swirls around her eyes and one start at the corner of her left eye.

A half an hour later, I stood there looking at myself in the mirror trying to recognize myself. I had picked out a pair of camouflage pants, a camouflage jacket, an Olive Drab t-shirt, finally adding a camouflage bandanna. The stylist had trimmed my hair, and striped it with red. Then she spiked it, which is a feat I don't even want to know, with my hair so long I swear it now defied gravity itself. Now this bang sticks out over the bandanna, almost straight because of the gel, it basically stays in one straight line but tapers out at the end. Kinda crazy but I like it.

Now what Max didn't know is that I had secretly snuck out, grabbed a pen and paper and scribbled something that looked like a note from my 'parents' to allow me to get a tattoo. Not like they knew what my parents handwriting looked like compared to mine anyway. So I quickly handed the tattooist the note before Max saw and ruined my fun. Entering the parlor in a back room, I felt my skin tingle at the sight before me. There were millions upon millions of pictures and designs of tattoos all over the walls, some of them showing the customers themselves. After ten minutes, I decided on a barbed wire around my neck, and a tribal tattoo on the side of my neck, opposite my serial number.

I can tell Max was none to pleased, especially after the earring.

Fortunately the bill was only $75 and with her credit card she just charged it. However she gave me a 'you're so in trouble' look as I apologized while the tattooist bandaged my neck.

As we left the parlor, I was hit by a new emotion I'd never felt before.

Guilt.

I'd never felt guilty about the things I'd done when I was still at the Institute, killing, beating, or permanently maiming Erasers or the technicians never phased me, in all honesty I think I took a bit of enjoyment in it.

But here I was, with this group I had just met the day before, and I was already making an ass of myself.

I felt my heart catch in my throat, and I mentally berated myself for it.

_Idiot, how the hell are you gonna make up for this? You don't have any money, nothing. What reason do they have to keep you? None. This didn't make anything better._

I cringed, what I was telling myself was true. I was entirely useless to this group of people.

"You okay Kael?" Nudge asked me, her brow furrowed.

"Huh? Yeah I'm fine."

"Your face was all screwed up, like someone had just punched you in the gut," she told me, not seeming to believe me.

"It's nothing, I was just thinking about some things."

Nudge seemed like she was going to press me for more information but Max interrupted.

"This seems like a good alley to take off from, we need to get to DC as soon as possible."

Fang nodded in agreement and we shuffled down the alley, going to the very end. Pulling off my jacket, I stretched my wings out a little. First to take of was Angel, then Iggy, then Gazzy, Nudge, Fang, me, and finally, Max.

As we soared above New York, heading south towards DC, Angel coasted up to me.

"She's not angry with you," she said quietly.

I started, "How did you know what I was thinking?"

"I can read minds," she stated simply.

I blinked, "I see, um… thanks."

"We aren't going to just leave you out in the cold either, you aren't useless."

I blinked again, and Angel soared ahead.

Shaking my head, I coasted up to Max.

"Sorry Max," I said quietly, shame filling me and making my cheeks burn red."

Max gave me a smile and shook her head, "Kael, how many times have you ever escaped from the Institute?"

I stopped to think for a moment, "Maybe… five or six times?"

"Exactly, and each time you escaped how long was it until you got recaptured?"

Again I paused to think, "I'd say about… three, maybe four days on average."

"And in that time did you ever spend it with society? Actually, better question, did you ever have someone who looked out for you and taught you to grow up and all the fun things you learn as a kid?"

This time I just shook my head, "No, never, to both questions."

"Exactly. Don't worry about it Kael, we aren't going to just up and leave you for this."

I wondered for a moment if Max had mind reading abilities like Angel, instead I just smiled. I still felt guilty though Max had helped to lessen the sting of it. I slowed down and moved to the rear of our little flock. I saw Fang move up past me to Max and talk to her for a little bit, after a little while he moved off, and I couldn't help but wonder at what they had talked about. I shrugged it off, figuring that it wasn't any of my business and continued flying.

A few minutes later Max stopped and did a 360, stopping halfway through and staring straight behind us.

"What's up?" I asked as I caught up with her.

"Does that look like a storm cloud to you?"

I spun around and saw a mass of black moving towards us. I shook my head.

"A flock of birds?" Nudge asked, catching up with us with Fang.

I shook my head, "It's mid-summer, they aren't birds flying south for the winter."

As they neared, I heard Angel utter a small gasp, almost the same time as Max.

"Flying Erasers."

I nearly dropped out of the sky from shock, peering forward I saw that what she said was true, that mass of black was a bunch of Erasers flying towards us.

"Can we outrun them?"

Max shook her head, "They're moving too fast for us to outrun, we're gonna have to fight them."

I sighed and faced the cloud. This ought to be interesting, fighting and flying.

I thought about what the best plan of attack would be, in the 15 years with the Institute I had fought Erasers on a daily basis and had learned that at best they were just savages with claws and teeth, now wings. I was an artist, or so the technicians say.

I ended up choosing to wait for them to come to me, as did the rest of the Flock. I curled my hands into fists as they neared us. I was beginning to be able to discern separate details, and I noticed that their wings were heavy and huge.

Finally deciding they were close enough, I flapped my wings and shot forward, a grin on my face. One Eraser snarled at me and flew ahead of the rest, hands outstretched in an attempt to claw me before I got too close. I ducked under his claws, twisted, and sent a boot into his side. The Eraser howled and spun around, flapping hard to keep aloft. He swung at me and I moved slightly, slapping his arms out of the way and smashing a palm into his jaw. I heard teeth crack, and the Eraser kicked at me, I didn't move as he missed by about a foot. I shook my head and dropped onto his back, I pushed his wings together, and smiled as he fought against my hands. I painfully twisted them, until I heard a distinctive 'pop' and one wing stopped struggling. Satisfied, I let him go and watched as he flapped with one wing while plummeting to the earth.

I spun around and launched myself at an Eraser that was awkwardly trying to sneak up on Max.

Catching up to him, I caught him in the stomach with my knee and I felt his breath whoosh out.

"This is our turf, go back to the ground." I did a flip in mid-air, and smashed the heel of my boot onto the Erasers back. The Eraser dropped and started screaming. I heard a boom and felt a shock wave pass by me and I turned around to see an Eraser with a hole in his chest fall to the ground.

"Fang!" I heard Max cry behind me, only to watch as an Eraser swiped at him in the side, and ripped his jacket apart. The rest of the Erasers were leaving as we flew in closer to surround the remaining one, when he turned towards me and I gasped.

It was Ari.

Yep, that or his twin brother, he dropped out beneath us and flew away, awkwardly trying to catch up with his squad.

"Boy, you just can't kill people like you used to," said Fang.

"Report," Max said quietly.

"I'm fine," Fang said, though his flying looked ragged, kind of like mine.

"Let hurts, but I'm okay," said the Gasman

"I'm fine," Angel piped in, "So are Total and Celeste."

Celeste? I think I'll ask later.

"It's my bear, right here." Angel said pointing to the bear stuffed in her waistband. I nodded, still unnerved by her mind-reading abilities.

"I'm okay," Nudge said tiredly.

"My nose," Iggy said, his hand pressed against his face, "but no biggie."

"Kael?" Max asked, all eyes turning towards me. I looked myself over quickly, glancing at all my body parts.

"I seem to be fine, and I believe I'm still alive… so I'm good."

Max nodded and faced everyone, "We're almost to DC, and it should be easy to get lost in another big city. We good?"

We nodded and spun around and headed south again.

I was enjoying myself, I was trying to fly like the rest did, however I winced every time I flapped. My wings slapped at the air and made an odd sound, whereas their wings made a small rustling sound.

A little while later Iggy asked about them flying, and some turned towards Angel and the rest towards me.

I shrugged, "Well, unfortunately I've never seen Erasers with wings, I don't know how or what they did, because Erasers are mass-produced, they're entirely expendable. They don't test them or keep them in cages so I never hear anything about it."

Everyone nodded and we kept flying, feeling the cool breeze flit past my face. I noticed Max dropped back to speak with Fang, who was struggling to stay up. My brow furrowed in concern and I stopped to see what was going on.

It wasn't until I heard Max exclaim something about his arm did I start to move, his eyes shut and he started to fall, Max yelled for Iggy and folded her wings in, racing to catch Fang. I dove after her, wanting to make sure that I was there if help was needed. I tucked my wings in tightly, dropping past Max and catching up with the slow moving Fang. His wings were spread out so he was dropping at maybe a speed of… 60 miles an hour. I caught up to him and grabbed his left arm, while Max grabbed the right. Iggy showed up and I traded places with him, flying higher to look for a place to land.

I glanced around and saw a rocky shore to our left, it was small but it didn't look used.

"Over there!" I yelled pointing. Max and Iggy swung awkwardly outwards and flew as fast as they could to the shore. They landed awkwardly, as did I. I had to roll painfully on the rocks to keep from breaking my ankles.

"What's going on?" Nudge asked, landing next to us. I glanced at Fang and saw the dark shiny cloth that was plastered to his side.

"Let's just see what we're dealing with here," Max said, unbuttoning his shirt. She pulled it apart, and Nudge gasped at the damage dealt.

Fangs skin was in ribbons, and blood was oozing out of the wounds.

"Nudge, you and Gazzy and Angel rip up a shirt or something. Make strips for bandages." Max said tersely.

"Nudge!" She said firmly, and she jumped, then pulled out an extra shirt and started ripping it up with Gazzy and Angel. Iggy was busy feeling Fang's wound and wincing.

"This feels bad. _Real_ bad." He said lowly, "How much blood lost?"

I knelt down next to Iggy and directed his hands towards the larger area of the wounds.

"A lot," I whispered, feeling slightly worried. I was good in combat, I'd never had to worry about medical situations, I usually healed overnight.

"Jus' a scratch," Fang sighed, his head moving slightly.

"Shh!" Max hissed, "You should have told us you were hurt!

"How?" She suddenly asked.

I blinked at her, as did Iggy.

"How what?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"Iggy, lift Fang's feet, Gazzy you got those strips ready?"

Gazzy handed her a pile, which she folded up and placed over his wound.

"Company," I whispered. There was a jogger running along the beach. He started walking when he saw us.

"You okay kids? What are you doing out so… early…" his voice faded when he saw Fang. Before we could do a thing he pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911.

_Oh shit._ I thought to myself as Max mulled over the decision of running. She knew there was no way we could leave, Fang was in danger of dying and she knew it.

"Nudge, take Gazzy and Angel and find a place to hide. The rest of us will go to the hospital, and I'll send Kael back when we get a chance."

I was about to ask why she needed me to come along when Gazzy flat out refused.

"We're not leaving you and Fang and Iggy."

Max's eyes widened and her jaw set. "Excuse me?" she asked giving the Gasman a look that could kill, "I told you to get out of here."

"No," he replied, "I'm don't care what happens I'm not going to leave."

"Me neither," said Nudge.

I tried to stay out of this, not wanting to intrude on a family matter.

The ambulance screeched to a halt on the road next to the beach, its flashing lights painting our faces. Paramedics jumped out, grabbing a body board.

"Goveryou," Max said, and I thought I had misunderstood her, until she spoke again, "Allay. Todo ustedes. Egway."

_What the hell? Is that some form of fucked up Spanish?_

"No," the Gasman said, "Neckerchu."

I quickly pulled on my windbreaker, realizing that I had sat there a full ten minutes in complete view of the public with my wings splayed out behind me.

"What's happened here?" Asked a paramedic as they reached us, pulling out a stethoscope.

"Accident," Max said, glaring at the rebellious little ones.

"Accident?" The paramedic asked, "With what, a fucking rabid bear?"

"Yeah," I said, cutting in to stop Max from ripping his head off, "Well sort of."

After a minute of checking his vitals, they set him on the body board and placed him in the ambulance.

We were going to the hospital.

We all crowded into the ambulance, I glanced at Angel and Nudge who had tears running down their faces, and Gazzy was fighting them back. Max was next to Fang holding onto his hand.

"Uh-oh, he's fibrillating. Get the paddles."

"No!" Max yelled loudly, I jumped, "That's _always_ how his heart is. It _always_ beats really fast. That's normal."

The paramedic looked confused, and just then we screeched to a halt in the emergency bay doors at the hospital and all went to hell.

They took him away, people yelling his stats to doctors, everything was a huge rush and mess. I ended up standing there in the ambulance, trying to catch up with everything that had happened. Warily, I got down and stepped out. Carefully steadying myself. Inwardly I felt a little sick, but I just blamed that on nerves.

"Are you okay?" A passing paramedic asked. I nodded to him and walked in.

I hadn't taken three steps when I felt a hand on my back.

"Sir, no you aren't."

I frowned and spun around, giving the paramedic a quizzical look.

"You have a gaping hole in your back."

My eyes widened, and I felt my back. Indeed it was true, there was a large gash there and my shirt was soaked with blood.

"Hmmm," I said, "never even felt it."

Then I passed out.

Iggy's POV

I held on to Nudge's hand as she followed Max. We stopped short though, when someone stopped us.

"Let the doctors see him first, you can give me some information. Now, what's his name? Is he your boyfriend?"

"His name is… Nick," I heard Max say nervously, "Nick, um, Ride. He's my brother."

_That doesn't sound like a bald-faced lie_.

"He's all of our brother's," Nudge said quickly.

There was a pause, and I felt myself being scrutinized. I can't see but you still get that prickly feeling on your neck.

"We were adopted, our parents are… missionaries. They're away on a… short mission. I'm in charge."

Nice save there Max.

"Miss?" I heard a new voice say, "Could you come with me, right now?"

My heart raced faster as I knew what was coming. "Think he noticed the wings yet?" I murmured to Nudge. Max tapped me twice on the back of the hand, letting me know I was in charge, before she ran off.

We all sat down, nervously wondering what was going to happen to Fang. Until finally Gazzy asked.

"Has anyone seen Kael?"

I blinked, I hadn't heard his voice since the beach. Where was he?

Then I heard Angel gasp.

"What is it?"

"Kael's in the Emergency Room next to Fang's."

I heard the sound of rushing feet and someone stopped next to me.

"Yes?" I asked, wishing I could see.

"Uh, sir? Um…" whoever it was paused as he struggled to find the words, "Did you come in the ambulance with the boy who got attacked by a bear?"

I snorted, they actually said that?

"Yes I did."

"Was there another boy with you, with black hair?"

"I can't see."

Nudge touched my hand, telling me that we did.

"Yes we did." She said.

"Who's in charge right now?"

I raised my hand.

"Can you come with me?"

I sighed and stood up, "Help me follow you. Gazzy." I turned my head in his direction and blinked twice rapidly. He knew what to do. If things got hairy they were to immediately U & A out of there.

I followed whoever it was, doctor or nurse and into a room. I heard the EKG machine, the beating was regular, but far too slow were it one of us.

"Do you know him?"

I nodded, I only met him yesterday but what could I say? No?

"What's wrong?"

"His back has a large gash in it, and it's done some serious damage to his spinal cord."

"Let me feel it."

They handed me a rubber glove and I put it on, then they directed my hand to his lower back. While I felt around, the doctor started questioning me.

"Are you… like him?"

"Not entirely, I have wings but he's got bat wings, mine are feathered."

I finally found his spine in the gash, and I could feel the miniature cracks, and the large portion that was missing.

"I can't see, did it break through the cord or did it just tear the chunk out of the bone?"

"It's broken through, but it's very small, he's lost a lot of blood."

"You can't give him human blood, as far as I know."

I winced mentally, I'd have to explain everything.

"We're human-avian hybrids, our red blood cells have nuclei unlike human blood."

"And his?"

"I'm guessing he was infused with some form of bat DNA, I couldn't tell you."

"Well… I don't think we have much of a choice. Have you ever donated blood?"

I shook my head.

"Get ready to."

Max's POV

Feeling extremely dizzy, after giving Fang two pints of blood. I staggered down the hallway to the waiting room where I had left the flock.

Nobody with wings, I glanced around to see if they were under chairs and got nothing.

I started panicking, and with my lack of blood I felt seconds away from hurling.

"They're down here." A short nurse told me. I spun around and faced her. I was presented with a muffin and apple juice. "Take this, it'll help with the dizziness."

I took the muffin and juice and she pointed down the hall, "They're in room 7."

"Thanks," I said, and rushed down the hall.

I opened the door and was met with three pairs of tearful bird-kid eyes.

_Iggy? Oh my god I completely forgot about Kael!_

Guilt and anger swept through me as I realized I had completely forgotten about him. What kind of person was I? I was supposed to treat everyone equally, nobody had importance over another…

I opened my mouth to speak when someone else cut me off.

"Ah, you must be Max."

My eyes widened and I saw a man in a dark suit standing off to the side.

He didn't look like an Eraser… but I didn't want to let him know that if he was.

"Please sit down," said another on the other side of the room.

There were three of them, two men and a woman, looking very official in their dark blue power suits.

Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy were there as well, looking completely apart from them with plastic food trays in front of them. All three completely untouched.

"Where's Iggy? And Kael?"

"The doctors came, Kael's in the ER. They needed Iggy for the same reason they needed you so he went with them."

I blinked, and I felt ambushed, they were splitting my flock apart, unintentionally of course, but if Erasers were to burst in at any moment…

At that moment there was a knock on the door, and I jumped about a foot in the air, I was strung so tight I spun around and faced the door, ready to punch whoever was on the other side as soon as it opened.

I had to stop myself however, as the person who had opened the door was none other than Iggy.

"Iggy!" I exclaimed, rushing forward and hugging him, he awkwardly patted me on the back.

"Do I smell food?" He asked as I let go of him.

I nodded, "Angel, have Total eat some food and see if he keels over."

"No!" She cried, hugging Total to her chest, "I wont!"

"Look," said one of the Agents, Dean Mickelson according to his nametag, he bent over and took a bite of Gazzy's scrambled eggs, we all watched for a minute, waiting for him to gag and keel over. When he didn't, I sighed.

"Dig in."

Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge jumped on their food voraciously, a minute later two more trays were brought in for Iggy and I.

When we were done, Dean spoke up, "Now… if it's alright with you, we'd like to ask some questions, if you could just move into here, we can all speak with you at the same time."

I sighed, "Do we have a choice?"

Dean smiled and nodded yes, I shrugged, what could it hurt? Besides I had a strange feeling that I'd get a shot in the back if I didn't.

Fang's POV

I woke up in a warm bed, something entirely new to me.

I opened my eyes and saw five blurred shapes around me. I blinked, and my vision slowly cleared. Eventually I saw the flock worriedly sitting around my bed.

"Hey," I winced, that sounded like a pathetic croak.

"Ah, so the prince is awake," Gazzy said with a smile. I smiled back, though that nearly took all my effort. I felt like I had just flown around the world a few times, and then fought an army of Erasers.

"How do you feel?" Max asked, relief coloring her face.

"Tired," I replied, "and a little light-headed."

"I know how you feel," Iggy said, he raised his arm and I saw a bandage around his elbow.

I blinked, and noticed Max had a similar one as well.

"What happened?" Thoughts of people taking them in and injecting them with chemicals and drugs, just like at the School, came flooding into my head.

"You needed blood," Max said simply.

"I needed that much from both of you?"

"No, you got two pints from me," Max said.

"Two pints? You should be laying down and resting."

"It's fine, Kael got three from me." Iggy countered.

"You should be dead." I murmered quietly. Iggy shook his head and whacked my arm playfully.

"But wait, what happened to Kael?"

Everyone looked away. I frowned.

"He's been in surgery for the past five hours," Max told me quietly.

I blinked, I thought he said he was fine. "How?"

"Somehow his back got ripped to pieces, he could be paralyzed." Iggy told me.

"How?"

Iggy sighed, "We aren't sure, but Max thinks that when he landed on the beach, he rolled and the rocks…"

"What's happening now?" I blinked, suddenly I felt exhausted, and the world started to spin. I leaned back against the soft pillows, closing my eyes. I was intent upon listening but just resting, but I fell into the world of sleep before I could.

Max's POV

I watched as Fang's breathing slowed and his eyes shut, I felt panicked until I realized he was sleeping.

I looked around the room, it had a carpeted floor, which did nothing for comfort, seeing as there was no padding underneath. The walls were a milky white, I guess to cut down on the blaring brightness you see when you wake up. They had some fake plants in the corner, and a picture of a coast and waves on the wall.

Just then, a knock came at the door. Gazzy jumped up and answered it and a different doctor walked in, his jaw looking tight.

"Ma'am, if you could come with me for a second please," he said, gesturing with his rubber gloves towards the door. The last thing I wanted to do was sit there and go on my own but I had no choice. I tapped Ig's hand and followed the doctor out and back to the ER area. We stopped outside the door where I had seen Kael go into surgery. I looked through the window and felt like crying. The surgeons were pulling their gloves and aprons off, and the nurses were busy shutting down the machines and pulling out the various tubes they had in Kael's body. Meanwhile Kael was laying facedown on the bed, his wings draped over the side and his back still an open gaping wound.

"What's wrong?" I asked softly, my voice full of emotion.

"It was very close for a good long while, but he'll live."

"What about…" I left the question hanging.

"Fortunately there was very minor nerve damage, so much so that it's unnoticeable. He should feel some slight numbness when he wakes up, but it'll leave in a few minutes.

I sighed with relief, "Will he be able to stay in our room?"

The doctor nodded, "He'll also feel some discomfort, we had to perform some different things because of his anatomy, but that too should disappear within a few days."

"May I see him now?"

The doctor frowned behind his mask and shook his head, "I'm afraid not, we've still got to close the wound and bandage it, which is what those surgeons are doing right now. I just wanted to talk to you about some things that will have to be done afterwards."

My brain went on high alert, and I glanced sharply at the doctor, "Like what?"

"Nothing major, he's just going to have to come in, in about a month for us to look at the wound and see if any major nerve damage occurred that we may have missed."

I sighed, and nodded.

"We'll bring him to your room when we're done."

I nodded and turned around, giving Kael one last glance before walking back to our room.

On my way there I battled my emotions. I felt so guilty for not properly checking everyone's wounds, and I felt so angry at myself for getting so wrapped up in Fang I didn't even notice that Kael didn't come in with us.

I must have looked forlorn though, when I walked in our room because everyone's face grew a lot dimmer when I walked in, and Nudge looked ready to cry.

I sat down next to Fang and sighed, "He's going to be fine, when they're done bandaging him they're going to wheel him in."

Gazzy sighed as did Ange and Nudge. Angel came over and crawled in my lap, and I wrapped my arms around her.

"So what do we do now?" Iggy asked, Fang was still asleep, and while I hated to tell everyone and make a decision without him, it needed to be done.

"Well, like we agreed on we'll go to Anne's for a while. But not until Fang and Kael are ready to leave, 'till then we stay here. I'm not letting them split us apart."

They all nodded in agreement, and I smiled at them.

I looked at the clock. _Jeeze, it's already 9 o' clock, I should get them to bed._

"Alright you guys, its getting near bedtime."

A chorus of groans came from everyone, but I could tell they were tired, especially Iggy, though I couldn't blame him.

"The girls can have the bed," Gazzy said, "Iggy and I can sleep on the floor."

"First of all, little sexist piglet, shouldn't the two smallest people get the bed? That'd be you and Angel right?"

Gazzy blinked, and nodded.

"Secondly, Kael is sleeping in here remember? What if they don't bring in a third bed?"

Fang's room was a double, but I'm not sure if they were gonna move Kael into the bed, or if they were just gonna bring him in on a bed.

Gazzy started looking stubborn so I glared at him before he could argue.

"Of course, the prince gets a bed to himself."

"That's right," he said hazily, and I jumped, "The prince has a gaping side wound."

"You're awake."

He gave me a small grin, "So it seems."

I shook my head at the smart ass, "They sewed you up, you should be pretty gape-less right now."

He shook his head and laid back on the bed again. Just then there was a knock at the door.

I opened it and there was a doctor there, he had a bundle of blankets and pillows in his arm, and in a bag slung around his shoulder were mats.

"Thank you," I said, the doctor nodded and left.

I laid out the mats, and watched as they all took one. I laid down on the one that I had laid down next to Fang's bed, albeit mine was a good two feet shorter, at least if he needed anything I wasn't far.

At around 1 AM there came another knock, more hesitant. I opened the door and Kael's doctor came in.

"Can he still come in?" He whispered.

"Of course!" I whispered, I beckoned him in and he pulled Kael's bed in behind him. With a little soft rearranging I managed to get Fang's bed next to Kael's and moved Gazzy and Angel onto the spare.

"Max?" I heard groggily from the other side of the room. I spun around and saw Kael looking at me through the dimness.

"Yes Kael?" I whispered, stepping carefully over the bird-kids sleeping on the ground.

"What time is it?"

"Around 1 AM. How are you feeling?"

I heard him chuckle softly, which turned into a cough. "I feel like crap, if it makes you feel any better. My legs have been numb since I woke up."

"The doctor said you'd be feeling that, it should go away soon." I knelt next to his bed, resting my arms on the edge.

He glanced down at me, and gave a small smile. His wings were still draped outwards over the edges of the bed and hung down till they were almost touching the floor. I wondered why he was laying on his back until I realized that he was also laying on a mass of pillows.

"Kael?"

"Hm?"

"Why haven't you brought your wings in? Every time I've seen you since you went into surgery they've been hanging out."

He snorted, "They injected me with something… I think Novocain, so since I've got two major arteries in my wings, the drug obviously went straight to them. Right now I can't even feel them, let alone move them."

I nodded, and yawned suddenly.

"Get some sleep," he told me softly, I glanced at him, he gave a small smile and I shook my head no.

"If anyone should be sleeping it's you."

"Can't, my back's killing me."

"I'm sorry, want me to get a doctor to give you some Novocain?" I said with a smile.

"Do you want me to stick you with the needle instead?"

I started laughing, but I quickly stifled it with a hand across my mouth before I woke anyone.

After a few moments of a slightly awkward silence, I spoke.

"So Kael, can I know a little bit about your past?"

"There's not much to tell," he said, "I just basically lived in the Institute, and they ran tests on me. I would fly three times a week, in this tiny little caged off area, which is why my flying sucks. I would run three miles, combat Erasers in an arena, and occasionally a few would accidentally die, but the whitecoats managed to pass it off as just me being superior. Which is basically what they wanted."

"Explains why you were so good at fighting Erasers," I said quietly, he just looked over and smiled.

"Kael, I…" I trailed off, fighting to find the right words, "I want to say sorry…"

His head raised, and he tried to sit up fully but his back stopped him, "Sorry for what?"

"I'm sorry for forgetting you like that, I was so wrapped up in Fang's injuries that I didn't bother to see if anyone was seriously hurt like you were."

He shook his head, "Max, I grew up with nobody caring about me or my injuries, I wasn't even a person to anyone I spoke with. Now I'm with you guys, and you're apologizing to me about not even knowing I had an injury I didn't know about until about three seconds before I passed out. It's fine, and thank you."

"Thank you? For what?"

"For caring about me." He smiled at me wanly, before he laid his head back and closed his eyes.

"Kael?" I said quietly.

"Hm?" He cracked an eye open.

I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, "Good night."

He smiled, "Good night Max."

I laid down with my face as red as a tomato. _WHY THE HELL DID YOU JUST KISS HIM!?_ I berated myself.

_**Everything happens for a reason Max.**_ My voice told me. I ignored it and fell asleep.

---

So yeah… sorry about the hellaciously long chapter, innocent grin It just sort of… I couldn't find a good place to end it, so I ended it with this.

I really hope you liked it, let me know!


	3. Chapter 3

Me: Well, here goes chapter three, I'm not sure this will be as long as chapter 2, but I guess we get to see how things go.

Note: I'm not sure what to do for pairings, I've already got one vote for FangxMax, but let me know what the rest of you think!

_Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, but I own Kael so nyeh!_

Chapter 3 

The next day I woke up to something warm and most gliding across my hand. I glanced over and saw that Max had fallen asleep with her head on the edge of my bed, and she was breathing on my hand.

_She looks peaceful._ I thought to myself, comparing her to the Max I had met two days ago, the one who had killed Ari, who was now back to life. I made an attempt at sitting up, and stopped when my back popped noisily.

"Morning," I looked over to my right and saw Fang, who had pulled the blankets off of his torso and was looking at his wounds, which had completely healed.

I nodded to him and felt my own back, I too had healed, the only evidence being the scar tissue that remained, which too would probably heal away. I could feel my wings as well, which were sore from hanging out like that all night long.

"It is a good morning," I mused out loud, Fang gave a short nod and laid back. I slowly retracted my wings, hoping not to disturb Max, but that didn't work.

During the night she had managed to lay an arm across one of my wings, and when I moved them her arm feel off of the bed, which subsequently pulled her down with them.

_Thud_.

I winced as Max jumped up, her eyes wide.

"What's going on?" She exclaimed, her eyes jumping around.

"Nothing," I replied calmly, "You just fell over and woke up."

She blinked, and relaxed, Fang chuckled.

She glared at him, and I suppressed the laughter that threatened to escape my lips.

By now all the commotion had gotten Iggy up, who stood up rubbing his eyes.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing," I told him, "Max is just freaking out."

"About what?"

"She's afraid of the dark."

Indeed, it was very dim in the room, the sun hadn't quite yet risen, and the lights had been dimmed all the way down.

"Am not!"

I rolled my eyes and chuckled, Iggy just tapped his foot and asked, "Can I go back to sleep?"

I shrugged and nodded, feeling the want to roll over and fall asleep myself. Yawning widely, I pulled the blankets around me, tucking my wings in tightly. Soon after I fell asleep.

Fang's POV

I couldn't sleep, I still felt a bit of an ache in my side, and I just didn't feel tired. I ended up sitting there, daydreaming, until someone knocked on the door.

Before I could get up to open the door a woman opened it and walked in. I recognized her as Anne, the FBI agent that Max had agreed that we would stay with for a while. She closed the door with a click, and that woke Kael up.

"What's going on?" He asked, sitting up and taking everything in. He glanced over and saw Anne in her tan button-up blouse, her tan slacks and her official looking FBI card, and visibly tensed up.

"I'm Anne," she said, holding out a hand, "Pleased to meet you."

Kael stared tentatively at her hand, I'm guessing not knowing what the gesture meant. A minute passed and Anne stood there, still with a grin on her face and her hand outstretched.

"Just hold her hand and shake it, gently," I whispered, trying to avoid an even worse social faux pas. Kael still tentatively reached out and took her hand, shaking it lightly. Anne dropped the smile and her hand and turned to me.

"How do you feel Nick?"

I shrugged, "I feel fine, can I leave yet?"

Anne shook her head, "No, the doctors say you'll have to be here another week, as well as you." She said, pointing to Kael.

"I'm fine," he said quietly, lowering his head, the doctors had stripped him down and he was wearing one of those paper gowns, so his hair hung freely. The gel had basically died by now so only a few random strands were sticking up.

"What's going on?" Max groaned from the floor, she sat up and stretched, yawning in the process.

"I was just explaining to the boys how they can't leave for another week, but I already made arrangements to take you five home."

"No," Max told Anne coldly, "That wasn't what I agreed to. We're not leaving Nick, or Kyle here alone."

"He'll have doctors and nurses and two agents at his door. Round the clock."

Max snorted, "Two FBI agents would be a nice little appetizer before we got to the main course of Bat and Bird."

"It'll be much better for you at my house."

"Not much better for Nick," Max countered.

"But… they can't be moved," she almost seemed like she was pleading. I looked at Max and saw that she had that look on her face that she gets whenever she's being stubborn. "Were you all just going to stay here for the next week?"

"Pretty much."

Anne shook her head, finally realizing that she was fighting a losing battle. Looking disappointed, she walked out, swinging the door shut behind her.

I relaxed, as did Kael.

"I don't like her very much." He stated quietly. Max turned to him and frowned.

"Why not?"

"She came that close to demanding that we be split up."

I frowned at those words, while what he said was true, it felt awkward to hear him talk about 'us' and 'we' after only being with us for four days.

After that we just relaxed, Kael got up and started walking around, he had managed to convince the doctors to give him his pants back, and he had happily ripped off the paper gown. Now he was leaning up against the wall in the corner, his arms crossed across his bare chest and his hair hanging in his face.

About four hours after Anne left, a doctor came in to replace the bandages on mine and Kael's wounds. He about had a heart attack when he saw Kael up and walking around, and practically fainted when he saw that both Kael's wounds and mine had healed.

"I don't understand it," he said, staring openly at my side. I shook my head and sat up.

"Like I said before, can I leave yet?"

Anne walked in, looking a little harried. "What's going on here?"

"I was just coming in to change their bandages, they've completely healed however, so bandages would be a waste of time." The doctor said, looking a little nervous.

"So, one last time. Can I leave yet?"

"No!" Anne interrupted, holding up a hand. "Neither of you are anywhere near ready to move or leave. Please, Nick, just lie down and rest."

I looked at her calmly. She was starting to get on my nerves a little.

"Nick, now that you're feeling a bit better, maybe you can convince your brothers and sisters to leave with me. I've offered for all of you to come stay at my house, to rest and regroup." She gave me this cheesy smile. "Max refused to leave without you. But I'm sure you can see that it's pointless for them to stay here and be uncomfortable. Plus you'd be joining us in a week or so."

I stared at her, keeping the same expression, though anger was rising in my chest. How dare this woman try to guilt me into doing what she wanted.

"So how do you feel about it?"

"Whatever Max says, she's in charge."

Anne turned to Max, who looked regretful, "I can't leave Nick or Kyle."

The Doctor spoke up, "Perhaps they could stay, that way I could study-"

Anne cut him off, and dismissed him. He looked peeved, but knew better than to turn against the FBI, so he left.

"What do I have to do to get food?" I asked, I knew I had an IV, since every time I moved it moved around in my stomach. Kael had just ripped his out, I don't know if that was a good or bad idea but it was his choice.

"The doctors don't want you eating soli-" Max cut Anne off, "We saved you some of everything."

I gratefully grabbed the tray and dug in, I ate rapidly, itching to taste something in my mouth. "I need to get out of here, this place is driving me crazy."

Max nodded and turned to Anne, "I think F-Nick and Kyle are ready to come with us."

She stared long and hard at Kael and I, obviously fighting her instinct to lay down the law, and the knowledge that even if she did we wouldn't obey.

"Alright," she said, looking defeated, "Let me go finish up the paperwork. It's about an hour and a half to my house, okay?"

Max nodded, as did everyone else. Anne left, and Max sighed.

"Guys, I don't know what's coming, but keep an eye out alright?"

Everyone including me nodded.

"Can you move?" She turned to me, I felt fine, and she knew it but she was still worrying over me.

Cute.

"Sure." I laid back down and closed my eyes, this time still listening.

"After all," I heard Iggy's voice, "Fnick is Superman."

"Shut up, _Figgy_." I smiled, I touched his hand to my face so that he would know, and he smiled back.

Kael's POV

"Sure is pretty in Virginia," Max said softly, I glanced over at her and nodded slightly. We were in a van that Anne had rented out and we were on our way to her house.

"Tired?" She asked, frowning at me. I nodded again and closed my eyes. Then something happened that made me jump.

Max had reached over and squeezed my hand slightly. She pulled it away quickly when I jumped and hissed a breath in through my teeth.

"Sorry," she said, looking down. I looked over at her and shook my head.

"It's fine Max, you just surprised me."

She smiled at me and went back to looking outside the window. I closed my eyes again and fell asleep.

We must have traveled at the speed of light, because it felt like I had barely closed my eyes when we pulled up to Anne's house.

Err… Mansion. Chateau? Castle?

Whatever you decide to call it, it was huge.

She had a large red barn in the backyard, and a gigantic swimming pool sized pond. Her house must have been at least three stories, if not four.

We got out of the van and stretched. Spending an hour with genetically mutated kids who look like they're 16 when they're only 11 at the oldest wasn't very comfortable. Especially when you're the biggest one in there. Anne walked up and unlocked the front door and everyone rushed in past me, the little ones far ahead of Max, Fang, and Iggy as they were the most eager to see the new place they were staying at.

I walked slowly as everyone made their way inside, I spun around, taking in all the detail of the wrought iron gate, the two large pillars at the entrance of her home that held up the large portico. Eventually, I walked inside and heard the excited squeals of Nudge and Angel as they ran from room to room and peeked in at everyone's room.

"Seven bedrooms!" Nudge exclaimed to Max, who was just reaching the top of the large curved staircase in the entrance hall of the house.

At that point she noticed me, and ran down the stairs and then up to me.

"Kael, did you hear? There's seven bedrooms!"

"Sweet!" I said, giving her a smile. All she did was look at me skeptically.

"What, something in my teeth?" I joked.

"No…" she said, suddenly quiet, "You just look weird with this huge smile on your face."

I blinked, that was… weird?

Before I could muster up a sentence, she walked away, leaving me alone in the entrance.

I glanced around, there was a large crystal chandelier hanging from the high vaulted ceiling, and for some odd reason I had an urge to fly up there. Fighting it down, I instead walked around. Anne's home was nice, she had a large, polished grand piano, a dining room with another beautiful chandelier hanging above the table.

"Nice place," Max said behind me.

I slowly turned around and saw her glancing around the dining room.

"Yeah…" I said quietly, "So seven rooms?"

Max nodded, "Yeah, why what's up?"

I shrugged, "there's eight of us including Anne, and I don't want to be a pain, so if it's alright with you, I think I'm gonna sleep in the barn."

Max blinked, and I saw guilt flash across her face.

"It wouldn't be fair."

I snorted, "Max, I'm not used to fair, I'm used to being jabbed with cattle-prods and bullet wounds and one on twenty fights against Erasers and excruciating tests and injections and living in a cage. I don't give a rat's ass about fair. Besides, would forcing someone to share a room with me be fair either?"

Max shook her head, "But-"

"No 'buts' Max," I said quietly, I felt guilty, cause I knew she was trying to do what was fair for the flock, but also fair for me, and it was obviously hurting her. So, me, being the big social dumbass that I am, I walked up and hugged her.

I felt her stiffen as did I as soon as my brain regained control of my body. Immediately I jumped back with a wide-eyed look on my face. Max stood there stiff as a board, staring at me as if I were some demon.

I did the only thing I could do, I ran.

I ran into the kitchen from the dining room, and then back into the main hall where I ran out the front door and took off.

I love flying, I always leave whatever crap behind when I was in the air. Even in that caged off dome that I flew in at the Institute, I always forgot that there were Eraser snipers pointing large caliber rifles at me, and their fingers could easily 'slip' and that there were techs writing on clipboards and if I tried to land I would receive a shock from a small piece of machinery that was taped onto my spine.

I didn't fly for long, nor did I go anywhere, I circled Anne's house, enjoying that there wasn't a single house anywhere near for miles. I could fly anywhere around here and not be seen. After a few laps I landed in a dip in Anne's roof and sat down. Then everything that happened in the dining room came back to me.

_You are such an idiot…_ I told myself, resting my head in my palms. I played the scene over and over in my head, and wished I could go back in time to change that particular moment in life.

Unfortunately I haven't mastered quantum physics, nor the Space Time Continuum.

Eventually night fell, and I heard heavy flapping wings just as the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky pink and yellow.

I glanced up and saw the large figure of a human body with a 13 foot wingspan circling above me and getting steadily closer.

I looked back down at the roof, suddenly becoming interested in the pattern of the grain on the shingles as Max landed next to me.

"Hey, we're having a late-night snack… you hungry?"

I looked up and straight ahead, running my hand through my hair. Inwardly I debated, it could be ridiculously awkward, or I could just stay up here and make more awkward questions tomorrow.

"Sure," I said, resigning myself to my rumbling stomach. I got up and jumped off the roof, making Max gasp as I plummeted towards the earth, snapping my wings out at the last minute and touching the ground lightly. I walked in through the back door and into the kitchen where my nose was assaulted by a beautiful aroma.

"What is that?" I asked, my mouth watering.

"Cookies!" Nudge said excitedly from the counter next to me.

"What's a Cookie?"

Everyone gasped, including Max who had just walked in behind me.

Max pushed past me into the kitchen, she quickly grabbed a cookie and rammed it into my mouth.

Between coughing I let out whimpers of pleasure and I inwardly smiled.

_This must be heaven._

I pushed the last half of the cookie into my mouth and closed my eyes.

I generally try to avoid being phallic but…

These cookies were orgasmic. End of story.

"Like 'em?" Max asked, a smile on her face. I whimpered in chocolatey cookie goodness and nodded vigorously.

After a while, I got over the cookies and relaxed on a stool, being quiet. I still felt like I didn't deserve to join into the Flock's group so I sat back and watched. That is, until Anne turned the spotlight on me.

"So Kael," she said, "Where are you sleeping?"

"The barn," I said quietly, feeling extremely self conscious, I ran a hand through my hair, which was now obeying the laws of gravity and hanging back down in my face, save for a few strands that still stood up.

Immediately I saw a look of approval in Fang's eyes, sadness in Max's, and confusion in Nudge's

"But we have seven bedrooms," she protested, "One for each of us."

Max's POV

"One for each of us."

Somehow that jerked a spark in my already paranoid mind.

I needed to leave, so I stood up quickly an announced I was tired and heading for bed. Fang saw me and gave his understanding glance, and Kael looked… hurt?

_He's blaming himself._

_Gee, really voice? I never would have guessed!_

The Voice was silent after that, and to me, good riddance. I walked upstairs and sat on my bed, waiting for Fang to arrive. Not too much later he showed up, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"What's up?"

I sighed and hugged my knees to my chest, "This all seems way too perfect, the perfect number of bedrooms for us? Minus Kael I mean. I'm sorry but this whole thing just seems to be a gigantic trap with a spring straining to let go."

"I know, but we deserve a break, we'll leave at the first sign of any suspicious activity alright?"

I smiled and nodded, and Fang stood up, gave me a hug, stacked and tapped, then walked out to his room. I heard Anne announcing it was time for bed, and groans from the little ones. Quickly, I peeked out my window to watch Kael walking out to the barn. He looked so lonely I almost jumped out the window to walk him to the barn. But the sound of the children coming up the stairs made me pull away to tuck them in.

First was Gazzy, he smiled as I hugged him and kissed him on the cheek, I stack-tapped him and closed his door. I was about to go into Angel's room when Anne backed silently out, closing the door.

"Go to bed, I'll go ahead and get Krystal."

I blinked and before I could refuse Anne walked straight into Nudge's room. I was stunned.

I felt like I just lost my Flock.

Kael's POV

I walked out of the kitchen and across the field towards the barn. A bed hadn't been made but all I'd had in the Institute was a thin sheet, so sleeping on a rafter or up in the loft would be fine.

I opened the door and floated upwards towards the rafters, I sat on one, leaning my back against one of the vertical supports and hanging my leg off of the rafter.

To be honest I was a little hurt at how Max had abruptly left as soon as where I was sleeping was brought up, but I decided to resolve it in the morning.

For now, I'll sleep.

I woke up with a jolt and almost fell off of the rafter. One of the birds that regularly nested in the rafter's of Anne's barn was crawling on my leg, curiously looking at me. When I started the bird squawked loudly and flapped around, glaring at me. I shook my head and looked around, noticing the bird nest that was a mere two feet away from my boot. No wonder that bird was angry, it was just trying to protect it's young. I jumped down off the rafter, grabbing hold of the edge and swinging myself onto the loft ledge.

"At one point or another I'll have to clean this." I said, looking at the straw strewn floor. From the looks of it the rafter would have been more comfortable, and cleaner.

Quickly I climbed down the ladder, jumping the last rung and headed outside. I walked up to the kitchen door only to find it locked.

_Great… what time is it?_I peered through the window. Five o' clock. It was also a Saturday, and there was no way in hell anyone got up this early. So I turned around and headed back to the barn. I was in the process of making living quarters when the door slid open. I froze, like a deer caught in the headlights, fortunately I was hidden by a bale of hay and peeked over to see who was there. 

Silhouetted in the light was Fang, and I felt apprehension crawl up my neck.

"Kael?" He called out, his voice echoing off the walls, "We're having breakfast, you hungry?"

I stood up and nodded, then jumped down, spreading my wings to act as a parachute so I didn't break my ankles when I hit the hardwood floor. Landing lightly, I folded my wings back in and followed Fang outside and back towards the house.

"Sleep well?" He asked me, glancing over his shoulder towards me.

"Like a baby, I woke up every twenty minutes."

Fang chuckled at my joke and I couldn't help but grin. Maybe Fang didn't dislike me as much as I thought he had. We entered the kitchen and the smell of pancakes and eggs filled my nose.

"Real eggs?" I exclaimed, staring at the beauties cooking in the pan.

Nudge nodded as Iggy shook the pan and flipped the eggs expertly. I stared in wonderment and awe.

"Max," I whispered, "How does he cook if…?"

"Don't ask," He said behind me, "But if it wasn't for me, we'd be dead from Max's cooking."

I jumped slightly as I hadn't realized he had heard me. "Sorry," I said, blushing. Iggy told me it was fine and he went back to cooking.

After breakfast Anne individually took us outside to see our individual flying abilities. For everyone else it took about a half an hour. I took nearly two. I guess she didn't have a file on me let alone know about me so she had to find out more. She seemed disappointed when I said that I had just met up with the flock and so far, other than being able to kick an Eraser's ass with one arm tied behind my back (they actually tried that as an experiment) I had no special abilities like Angel. When we were done she let me go and I immediately took off, wanting to feel free again.

I flew around in ever widening circles, and got a good lay of the land. After flying by myself for a while I returned to the barn and began cleaning again. If we were going to stay as long as Anne wanted I was gonna have to make a suitable room. After I had cleaned all the straw out of half of the loft I went inside and started searching for a blanket, I don't know if I would have been comfortable on a bed, considering I've only slept in one once and that was at a hospital. So I didn't bother asking Anne for a mattress. I merely grabbed a blanket and a pillow, and took them out to the barn. Floating up to the loft again, I took a good look at my living quarters. Obviously there wasn't much, the area I had cleaned out had been hidden by a wall of bales of hay from anyone downstairs, but there were none going across. There was a window that I could possibly kick the grate away from if I had to leave in a hurry. The floor was basically several sheets of plywood placed across two-by-fours above the animals stalls.

Speaking of animals, Anne had a number of them. She had two horses, one male and female. Don't ask how I know because other than reading some books that I had been allowed to read I didn't know anything. I just could feel that one was a female and the other was a male. She had a cow, which was interesting, because it wasn't there, but it's leftovers were. I wrinkled my nose and figured that since I was staying out here I'd be kind enough to repay the favor by taking care of her animals. It'd take a while to get into the swing of things but I think I could definitely do it. Then there was a goat, who had two kids, (that actually is the name for baby goats), a coop of chicken, and an outside cage for rabbits. The first thing I did after I finished cleaning was I went to the horses. When I had read about horses I was fascinated by them, unfortunately the only thing I knew was that horses were a very intelligent, but very skiddish species. Knowing how easily I could get a hoof to the face I cautiously entered a stall that had the name 'Sugar' tacked to it. Sugar eyed me curiously, as if asking me 'what are you doing here? Who are you and what do you want from me?'

I reached out a hand, palm up, and her attention shifted from my face to my palm. She seemed to relax after she learned there was nothing in my hand and allowed me to come close to her and pet her.

"Hey Sugar," I said softly, and she snorted. She pawed the ground and I suddenly felt very nervous. She nudged me with her nose as if trying to say 'Hey, I'm just playing relax.' So I did. I ran my hand down her neck, and leaned against her slightly. After a few minutes I realized that I wasn't alone. I turned around and saw Max staring at me with a smile on her face.

Feeling self conscious, I pat Sugar on the neck and walked out of the stall, closing it and latching it behind me. Looking back at Max she was still grinning on me.

"What?" I asked, wiping my hands off on a towel nearby.

"Dinner's ready."

I nodded, and she spun around to leave. As we left I walked next to her, feeling very nervous and wondering how I should do this. After a few seconds I decided that being direct was again the best choice.

"Sorry… again."

Max stopped and stared at me, and I stared back.

"I told you, say that when you've done something wrong."

"But… I…"

Max smiled at me, "Kael it's fine," and she started walking away, after a few steps, she stopped and looked over her shoulder at me, with a grin on her face she said, "Also, you looked _oh so cute_ with that horse."

I felt the hairs on my neck stand up when she said that, and I frowned. Was she serious? Was she teasing me? I wandered inside, trailing far behind her. I broke my train of thought when a large plate of food was placed in front of me. I picked up my fork and shoveled a pile of Mashed Potatoes in my mouth. I continued to eat like a madman, stuffing my face full of food and hardly chewing before swallowing. Eventually I realized that everyone was staring at me and I dropped my fork with a clatter.

"What?" I asked, entirely nonplussed.

Max got up, walked over to me and gently, but forcefully yanked me outside.

"Kyle," she said, glancing around for Anne "What are you doing? You've nearly finished your entire plate in one minute."

I shook my head, "Wha-? Wait, is that wrong?"

Max nodded vigorously. "You ate like you haven't eaten in months."

I felt a knot form and twist in my stomach.

I nodded my head to Max and walked back inside. Everyone was staring at me, with looks of curiosity (Angel) mild disgust (Fang) Gazzy just seemed to think it was funny, and Nudge gave me a very strange look. I sat down, tentatively picked up my fork, speared a small piece of beef onto it, and placed it in my mouth. I chewed slowly, and then swallowed. Max smiled at me but I still got the same looks from everyone else. I looked down at my plate and realized that I had finished. Burning with shame I got up, excused myself and walked into the kitchen. After washing my plate I walked outside and headed for the barn. As soon as I entered I snapped my wings open and shot up to the loft. Where I quickly began pacing.

_What the hell are you doing here?_ I asked myself, _You don't belong here, you know nothing about being around people, you belong in a cage in a place hundreds of miles from here. Where you get injected with drugs and tests are constantly run on you and you get little food and you get prodded with sticks and kicks to the chest by boots and bites and you fight monsters just like yourself and…_

My train of thought was interrupted as I kicked the grate off the window and leaned out, puking my guts out. I felt even sicker as I realized that I was right, and I truly didn't belong anywhere but a cage. I felt tears run down my face as I continued to attempt to force my internal organs out through my throat.

Eventually my stomach stopped convulsing, but the tears didn't. I sat there, with my head out the window with tears dripping down my face.

After what felt like an hour, I heard the door open in the back of the barn and Max's voice rang out.

"Kael? Are you in here? Are you okay?"

Not saying a word, I jumped out through the now open window and spread my wings, taking off into the night and heading towards the forest. After ten minutes I landed in a clearing. Doing what I'd always tried to hide from the tech's and Erasers.

I let myself cry openly.

I didn't want to, but I had to. The hurt of finally being free, and then realizing that you don't belong anywhere else but a cage hurt too much. I found myself sitting there, sniffling as tears continued to run down my face, at which point I got up, clenching my fists, trying to fuel my hurt into anger, or energy. The first one worked so I vented on the tree I had been leaning against. Staring at it, I cocked my arm back and slammed my fist into the tree, enjoying the feel of my fist hitting something solid. So I cocked my other arm back and slammed it into the same spot. I repeated this continually, punching the same spot in the tree, over and over with all the strength I could muster.

I stopped when the sun came up, and stared at my hands in the dawn light. They were coated with blood, and the skin was practically non-existent over my knuckles, I looked over at the tree and found that I had managed to strip the bark off and coat the wood underneath with blood.

With a sigh I spread my wings and took off, I felt a little better, but still like I didn't belong anywhere but a cage. I circled Anne's house, and landed in a tree that was near the windows of the bedrooms. After I landed I saw Anne's room light up as she clicked on her beside lamp, and then watched as the lights consecutively went on in every other room. I perched there carefully, not wanting to attract attention by shaking the tree.

After the kitchen light came on, I crept along a branch and waited by what I thought was Max's window. Wanting her to go downstairs so I could grab a few things and leave. As I neared the window I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Glancing over I saw Gazzy making his way towards the barn, no doubt to let me know breakfast was in the making. He disappeared inside, then came out five minutes later, looking noticeably pale. This could be because he was clean or just shaken that I was gone.

Eventually he got to the kitchen, and I got a brief glimpse of noise of Fang and Iggy arguing over food. Then Max's window came open. I froze, knowing that all Max had to do was poke her head out and look up to see me. A knock came at the door, and I heard her call for them to come in.

"Max?" It was Gazzy. The shit was about to hit the fan soon.

"Yes Gaz? Oh god! You look terrible what's wrong?"

"It's Kael… he…"

"What?" Anger seeped into Max's voice, "What'd he do?"

I winced at this, but I was almost expecting it, I mean how could she trust me so soon?

"He… left Max… Kael he's… gone."

I heard a cry of anguish, and then the sound of hurried feet as Max dashed downstairs, then tore through the kitchen and outside. Quickly, I jumped in through Max's bedroom window, and ran towards Fang's room. Grabbing a pen and paper, I scribbled a quick note saying that I left, grabbed a sweatshirt from Fang's wardrobe, and then left through the window again. I started flying towards the forest, and glanced back to see tiny pinpricks rushing outside. They could fly after me, but I knew I was faster. I started beating my wings harder as I saw the specks leave the ground, and smiled as I gained some distance.

Max's POV

The first thing that ran through my head when Gazzy told me Kael was gone was Eraser's.

Immediately guilt and doubts ran through my mind as I tore out through the kitchen door and up to the barn. I had to see for myself, I had to search the whole barn.

I found nothing. There wasn't a sign of struggle either, so Kael might have left on his own.

But why? 

_You must look at everything from all angles, all perspectives Maximum._

Now what does that mean? 

Of course, I got no answer, so I dashed outside to where everyone was gathering, waiting for instructions. I scanned the skies, and with my raptor vision I easily picked out Kael flying over the forest away from us.

"I see him!" I called out, spreading my wings and flapping. I felt them rise next to me, though some only seem half-hearted. Ignoring that for the moment, I leaned forward and flapped my wings, pouring on as much speed as I could muster. A minute later I found that the ground beneath me was a blur, and Kael was steadily growing from a pinprick to a dot, and then to his normal size.

I ended up overshooting, and I blushed as I turned around and flew back to him.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled to him.

"Leaving," he said quietly, then spun around and flew away as fast as he could.

"Oh no you don't," I said under my breath, then shot after him. Again I overshot and had to turn around. What the hell was going on?

"Why Kael?"

"Many reasons," he said quietly again. Then one last time he took off away from me.

"I'm tired of this," I muttered, and shot after him. This time I slowed down soon enough so I caught up with him going his speed.

"Talk to me."

"No," He veered away to his left, and I followed.

"Kael stop and talk to me!"

"No!" He yelled back, and moved to turn but I blocked him.

"Don't make me do this!"

Kael regarded me coolly, "Do what?"

I shot into him as hard as I could and punched him in the stomach. What I didn't expect was his eyes to glaze over and for him to drop three thousand feet onto the forest floor.

Kael's POV

Let me say one thing.

Ow.

I must have hit the ground going at least over 100 miles an hour, and I felt half the bones in my wings break when we hit.

"Kael?" She said quietly, shaking me slightly.

I groaned, in both pain and the fact that there was no air in my lungs with which to form a word.

"Are you okay?"

I forced air into my lungs, and winced as I realized a rib was probably cracked.

"Just fucking fine," I said, "My wings… oh they feel great."

I felt Max try to move me to get a better look at my wings and I batted her hand away. "Don't even try," I said through clenched teeth, "I'm pretty sure my ribs are broken too."

"I was… just trying to…" I opened one eye and saw Max looking downfallen, "I wanted you to stay."

I looked at my body, and at my mangled wings, then back at her. "Good job." I said.

"Why were you leaving anyways?"

I sighed, could she pick a better time? "I don't belong with you and the flock Max. I'm completely different, and I don't know anything about being with people. I know cages, and experiments… but…"

Max furrowed her brow, "What makes you think that?"

I sighed, I was in excruciating pain but talking to Max as if the subject were the weather. "Fang doesn't like me, that's obvious, half the flock doesn't like me Max, you're the only one who can totally trust me, and even then…" I trailed off, but started when she opened her mouth to argue, "I have no social skills, Hell, I don't even know anything a first grader knows. I know how to fight and that's it. I know how to fly, how to run, and my reading is probably worse than Angel's. I'm screwed for life, and you know it. I was born to be in a cage, and if it hadn't been for you breaking my bones, for the second time in one week, I'd be there." I felt the same emotions I felt last night welling up in my throat and I forced them down. The last thing I wanted, or needed was to bursts into tears and start hurling my guts out in front of Max.

"I didn't break your back before…" She said quietly, and I re-opened my eye to see her staring at the grass, tracing her finger through it.

I blinked, and thought back on what I said, "I didn't mean it like that…" I sighed, "So now what, I go back to the hospital for another night? Then we go through the same thing again?"

"No, Kael, what makes you think we couldn't teach you other things? I told you before when we were flying that you didn't know anything about being with people, and you agreed. Now all of a sudden you think that because you don't have anything we've been taught you deserve to live in hell?"

"Not deserve," I said, "Belong. It's the only place I fit in."

Max rolled her eyes, "If you weren't broken I'd punch you."

I laughed, "If I wasn't broken we wouldn't be having this conversation. Besides, punching me got me like this, what would punching me again do? Kill me?"

Max couldn't help but grin a little, "Kael, I really don't want to make you stay, it wouldn't be right, but I'm going to ask you to. I really want you to stay, and hell with everything else, you'll pick it up and we'll help you."

I smiled, though it hurt, "You haven't given me much choice have you? Fine, just let me stay here for the night. The majority of my bones would probably heal overnight."

Max nodded, "But somebody would have to watch you, and we'd need to set the bones."

I sighed, "Yeah, help me up."

She frowned, then grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

"Okay, I've broken wing bones before, pull one wing out, and extend it as far it can go. Then you're going to basically re-set the bones. I'm going to flex the muscles to keep it up and it should hopefully move then bones back into place a little.

Max nodded, and, after I gave her the go signal, she got to work. About an hour later she was done with one wing, and then she set on the other.

She glanced at her watch, "It's around noon. You hungry?"

I nodded, "Could you get some bandages too?" When she gave me a questioning look I showed her my knuckles, and she gasped.

"Kael! What did you do?"

I quickly explained and she gave me a dirty look, obviously upset over what I did, then took off. I sat there and looked at my damaged knuckles. The skin was starting to grow over the exposed bone, but there was only one thin layer across it at the moment.

_What's taking so long?_ I stared at my hand, hoping to see some movement, but there was none. So I just let it be.

A little while later Max came back, rocketing above me like a black blur. She overshot, stopped, turned around and landed next to me with a large smile on her face.

She immediately pulled bandages out of her backpack and began wrapping my hand.

"What's the big smile for?" I asked, curious.

"I think I have a new power."

"Really? What is it?"

She looked up at me with an even bigger smile, "I think I can fly twice as fast as anyone else."

I blinked, "Makes sense, how else would you have been able to catch me?"

She rolled her eyes, "It's amazing Kael, I can go I think around… 200 miles an hour."

"Heh, next thing you know you'll be towing us in little seats. Maximum Ride, our own personal Leer Jet."

She glared at me, and I grinned back. Eventually she finished wrapping my hands, lightly tearing the tape off and tying it down.

"Now," she said, a serious look in her eyes, "Don't ever do something so stupid."

"Wait, the, punching a tree till I bleed part? Or the run away to a cage part?"

"Both you idiot."

I could only smile and shake my head. "So how about that food, what'd you bring me?"

She reached into her backpack yet again and pulled out sandwiches.

"Sorry it's not a gourmet meal," she said, some sarcasm rising in her voice.

"Oh how dare you!" I said in a mock accent, "Lord knows I only eat first class!"

She laughed and I gave a small chuckle, she tossed me a sandwich, which I tried to catch but due to the bandages taping my fingers together the catch was… fumbled.

"Can I even eat like this?" I asked as I again picked up the sandwich only to watch it drop back into my lap.

Max sighed, and scooted over to me, then held up the sandwich to my face, and I took a bite. After I swallowed I smiled at her and said, "Thank you mom."

Max kicked me in the leg lightly, then placed the sandwich in front of my face again and I took another bite.

Max's POV

God how embarrassing!

First I knock Kael to the ground, nearly injuring him permanently, and then I go and make a fool of myself worrying about his wings and him staying. Now I'm sitting here feeding him as if he were a baby!

He's older than me!

Though, strangely on the inside it felt kinda… fun, or enjoyable. There was this feeling in my chest that warmed my entire body, it was a throbbing kind of pain, but in a way it was good. I have no idea how to describe it other than that so that's the best I can do.

**Ah kids, so much fun together.**

_What do you mean?_

Surprisingly this time, I got an answer.

**Just that there's more in store for you two than you think.**

_Like what?_ I asked, my senses sharpening as I went on alert mode. _Erasers?_

Again there was no reply, and that made me feel like punching a tree.

Redundant, I know.

After we ate, I leaned up against a nearby tree and sighed.

**When does the dilly-dallying end?**

_What do you mean?_

What I mean is, when are you going to take a break from this and let someone else take control for a while?

_Wouldn't that be the opposite of dilly-dallying?_ I mentally smiled as I realized that I had just gotten the Voice with this one. He was silent from this, and I shook my head.

"Something wrong?" Kael's voice floated over to me, the sound making me start slightly.

"What? Oh, no, just clearing my thoughts."

"You know," Kael said, in a matter-of-fact tone, "Shaking your head, or headbanging, kills brain cells."

I couldn't help but grin, "Then that explains a lot with you."

Kael's eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed, "If I weren't stuck here I'd kick your ass."

I nodded, "I'm sure you would dear,"

He blinked, "Dear?"

It was my turn for my eyes to widen, "Sorry, I didn't mean like that, I just do that occasionally."

He shrugged, and immediately winced afterwards. "Blasted bones…"

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling another pang of guilt.

"It's fine," he told me quietly, making my heart flutter. Wait, what was going on?

"I don't blame you for what you did, it was logical, although severely impractical."

I smiled, pushing aside these weird emotions, "Severely impractical? Big words for a person who thought they had to leave because their schooling has been a big fat goose egg."

He waved a hand at me, "Ah, let a guy be."

I laughed lightly, and he gave a pained chuckle. Soon after, he fell asleep, and then so did I.

---

Well, the end of chapter three! I know many of you said Max and Fang should get together, but I had a sudden burst of inspiration and realized that I could fill up at least two chapters with a lot of this.


End file.
